Immersed in the midst of the energy crisis and faced with the threat of power cuts, France and Europe are betting on energy sobriety. Focus on France.
Since October, the City of Light has been a little less so every day: lights off at the Eiffel Tower and fade to black on the Champs-Élysées before midnight, Christmas light garlands in minimalist mode. Energy crisis obliges, France shells its kilowatt hours like a rosary. While all of Europe is donning woolen socks, will this frugality be enough to avoid the ” blackout so dreaded this winter?
The very first figures reported by the Aurora research firm show that several countries of the Old Continent managed to tighten their belts a notch in August. An initial assessment ranks the Netherlands and Greece at the top of energy sobriety for the end of the summer, with drops in consumption of 14% and 13%. Spain followed with a drop of 8%, while Poland, Germany and Denmark showed small decreases of 2-3%.
In Finland, even the Scandinavian spirit of hygge takes it for his cold. Fans of steaming baths are asked to lower the temperature of their spas by 100 to 80 degrees Celsius. Enough to save 20 to 30% of the energy swallowed by this spa treatment! Austria has scrapped these old train cars in favor of new, less energy-intensive ones. And Lithuania, meanwhile, sent its employees home, so they could turn off the thermostat of entire buildings.
In France, the Macron government’s Energy Sobriety plan has set the bar high: residential thermostats lowered to 19 degrees Celsius (to 18 degrees in state offices), lighting reduced by 50% in shops as soon as they close, ditto for cinema and museum signs. At nightfall, even the treasures of the architectural heritage are stripped of their clothing of light.
On October 23, the Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, was pleased to see this plan “starting to bear fruit”. In August, gas consumption in France fell by 14%, and that of electricity, by 5% in September and 5.3% in October, compared to the pre-pandemic period.
Really ascetics, the French? Not so sure, says Olivier Sidler, spokesperson for the French organization négaWatt, which was called upon to advise the State on the development of its energy sobriety plan.
A rather mild autumn and the meteoric rise in energy prices would largely explain the recent energy downturn, he thinks. “If it weren’t for the monster subsidies of 4.4 billion dollars injected by the State to limit the rise in the price of energy, the current price would be four or five times higher and all households would be bankrupt. There, the increases are reduced, but we are still talking about a sobriety that is more constrained than really voluntary, ”says Mr. Sidler.
Despite the loud cries against the sobriety plan, considered “infantile” by some, people find “that it’s not the gulag”, says this energy expert. “The French are very complaining, but the idea of reducing the heating is gradually gaining ground, because we fear power cuts this winter,” he says.
At the height of winter 2021-2022, evening energy demand reached 87 gigawatts in France, while the current effective power of the French network, from all sources, is estimated at 60 gigawatts. Hence the concern.
“In mid-August, [il n’y avait] not a single newscast [en France] without talking about the climate, where we [disait] not: be careful, the winter is going to be harsh, we have less gas […] says Frenchman Bernard Lebelle, CEO of The Green Link, whose Montreal-based company is developing a digital tool to help businesses become more sustainable.
As its name suggests, négaWatt, which has been scrutinizing the energy consumption of the French for 21 years, advocated sobriety long before it became the creed of all of Europe. The organization thinks that consumption must be reduced, even before investing in energy efficiency or the development of renewable energies.
“In France, explains Olivier Sidler, half of the nuclear reactors are shut down. With climate change, the flow of rivers is dropping all over Europe. The mistake is not to have anticipated anything and to have managed it from day to day. Today, several countries in Europe are up against the wall, he says.
“For us, sobriety remains the only means of acting on consumption in the short term without major investments. »
19 degrees in the morning
Half of the energy (47%) consumed in France is swallowed up in the building sector. By reducing the thermostat of buildings by one degree, France could already reduce its energy consumption by 8% and overall demand by 2.4 gigawatts. With the average house temperature being 21 degrees in winter, 16% of the energy could be saved if the Macron government’s call hits the mark, says Mr. Sidler. “It’s already a lot, almost without any effort. France can do better, he says.
Because the “fields” of energy consumed empty are still too numerous, says the spokesperson for négaWatt. Installing flow limiters/regulators on all residential taps (at a cost of 3 euros) would be enough to reduce the energy required to heat water in homes by 24%. Other examples? Unplugging or turning off, using a power strip, all small household appliances (25 per house on average) as well as game consoles and computers left in standby mode as soon as they are no longer used, would reduce by 14% total kilowatts related to their use.
“The waking energy is immense. The counters should be near zero at night. However, for many people, it continues to turn. Next, refrigerators and freezers are the most energy-intensive. We must aim for more efficient models,” adds Mr. Sidler. Reduced rates, adopted by 50% of French people, are already offered in “off-peak hours” (after 11 p.m.), to encourage people to run their dishwasher or washing machine at night, outside of peak hours .
“Just turning on the backlight button (which everyone ignores) that regulates the brightness of the TV screen saves 90 ilowatt hours a year,” he says. And filling the dryer and washing machine to capacity should go without saying. Without investing a penny, you can earn a lot. »
With in its sights all the sources of energy (gas, oil, electricity), negaWatt believes that small gestures can go a long way. “We would save 25% of the total gasoline consumed just by limiting the speed to 110 km/h. It would take eight minutes more to cover 100 kilometres. It’s nothing,” says the expert.
“We want people to get involved. The incentive is nice, but if nothing happens, the government must establish obligations. We may hold COP25, 26, 27, if each of us does nothing, nothing will change, ”he believes.
In the meantime, Europe is fleecing. The supermarkets have stocked up on socks, turtlenecks, and even heated ponchos. It remains to be seen whether individuals will actually follow suit.
According to the negaWatt specialist, the Macron government, scalded by the crisis of yellow vests, fears to brandish the stick rather than the carrot to achieve sobriety. “There were 11 deaths during these violent episodes. The government fears any measure that could arouse anger, ”he says.
Anger or not, the French Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, affirms that the French will have to get used to the slimming diet proposed to get through the cold season, and that, well beyond the horizon of 2023. climate emergency, this regime will continue, she said when the government plan was unveiled last October.
“Sobriety is not a fad for a winter. […] It’s a new way of thinking and doing. […] We want to reduce our energy consumption by 40% by 2050. This is a foundation of the ecological transition. This plan […] is therefore a starting point. »